The present invention relates to the formulation of a stable, high foaming light duty liquid dishwashing composition containing a minor amount of water-insoluble, particulate, low density abrasive suspended in an aqueous vehicle comprising an anionic surfactant system in combination with a betaine foam booster, a colloidal clay stabilizing agent, said clay being in the form of a presheared clay/water mix which is added as the final ingredient in the manufacture of said composition.
Liquid hard surface cleaning compositions have generally been classified into two types. The first type relates to aqueous suspensions of water-insoluble, abrasive particles suspended in an aqueous medium containing surfactants. Many of the compositions of this type suffer a stability problem. The second type relates to liquid detergents intended for general cleaning purposes which do not require an abrasive and these detergents are further subdivided into all-purpose liquid detergents containing inorganic and/or organic builder salts and into all-purpose light duty liquid detergents containing no builders.
The stability problem suffered by all-purpose liquid abrasive detergent compositions is clearly shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,919, wherein a water-insoluble stearate salt (magnesium stearate) is added to an aqueous medium containing a detergent to provide stability and to prevent syneresis of the abrasive-containing compositions upon standing. The compositions in this patent disclose use of any compatible surfactant including anionic, nonionic, amphoteric, cationic or zwitterionic surfactants to aid in the cleaning of the hard surface by the abrasive ingredient.
Also, disclosed in the prior art is the use of inorganic and/or organic abrasives in built (heavy duty) liquid detergent compositions containing an anionic-nonionic surfactant system as disclosed in Canadian Pat. No. 1,143,240, European Patent Publication No. 0,030,986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,347. Additionally, European Patent Application No. 0,021,545 discloses the use of inorganic and/or heavy duty liquid detergent compositions containing an anionic-nonionic surfactant system.
Light duty liquid detergent compositions of the second type (no abrasive) containing an anionic-betaine-cationic surfactant system are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,769. Compositions containing a combination of two anionic sulfonate surfactants--an anionic sulfate, and an alkyl ethoxylate sulfate--and a zwitterionic betaine surfactant are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,877. Compositions containing an anionic-betaine surfactant system are disclosed in British Pat. No. 1,452,708. A two-phase liquid detergent composition comprising an oil layer and an aqueous layer containing a foaming non-cationic surfactant and, optionally, a suds improver such as a tertiary amine oxide, a betaine or a fatty acid alkanolamide is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,955.
However, none of the above-mentioned patents disclose a stable, high-foaming, light duty dishwashing liquid containing a minor amount of a low density abrasive suspended in an aqueous vehicle containing a surfactant system comprising at least one water-soluble, anionic sulfated or sulfonated detergent salt containing an alkyl group or an alkenyl group having from 8 to 20 carbon atoms in the molecules, e.g., an alkyl benzene sulfonate, an alkyl ethenoxy ether sulfate, etc., and a betaine, about 1-3% by weight of colloidal clay stabilizing agent, and a minor amount of a solublizer such as ethanol as a preferred optional ingredient.